María, llena eres de gracia

When I first heard about María Llena eres de Gracia and its subject, I had many doubts about the treatment of such a delicate subject and how Colombian this movie was, with a writer/director from the USA; but when I heard the interviews and read de reviews I got really interested in the film and went to see it as soon as I could.

The first thing that must be highlighted about this film is the treatment of the drug dealing problem. In this kind of movies is really easy to fall in the conventions and make a story full of clichés with police chases and all powerful heroes, but not, fortunately the director takes another perspective and gets into the life of the 'Mulas', and shows the whole picture without any prejudgment.

Is admirable how a person that had never been in Colombia, before the movie, understands the problem and shows it in a so delicate and powerful way, and is able to put it in the big screen without extremes so common in films about Latin America made by foreign directors, as an example watch Len Loach's Carla's Song.

The story of the movie is quite simple: a 17 years old girl has many economic problems and takes the 'mule' work as an opportunity to get the money she needs. The narration is lineal and relays absolutely in the work of the two main actresses, and this is the success of the movie, the work of the two girls is superb, they transmit lots of energy in the screen, and although sometimes the decisions of the characters are quite sudden, their interpretation makes them absolutely believable.

The movie changed the cover, for commercial reasons of course, and that is a shame, because the first one was really beautiful, it showed Maria in the airport in the middle of a group as if she were in a procession, but the new one although good is more obvious and drug oriented and lacks the delicacy of the film.

Let's wait for Mr Marston next movie.

Well, I think this is a great movie. It brilliantly depicts the real situation of a Colombian girl. For me, a Colombian, what is really touching is her condition through the movie. María has this problem with her work and her boss, these other two with her boyfriend, this other one with her sister, this other one with her mother, this other one with her money, the other one with her wishes to become stable, this other one with her girlfriend, and then she is about to have a thousand more with this people of the drug traffic business and with the traffic itself! To have a thousand problems at the same time is, sadly, not an exception, but the usual situation of the average Colombian! I mean, we strongly tend to have disorganized lives, with three, four, five concerns at a time, struggling and wandering through life with them. We are not organized, as people of the developed countries are accustomed to be. We always have problems. I'd say we love to have them. And we love to dig on other people's problems. It gives us a false sense of importance, as of being the stars of our own story.

Other typical Colombian attitudes are very well presented. One of them is impudence. For example, look at María's sister. She didn't do more than to ask for things! And, even further, she COMPLAINS!! Typical. Or Blanca's attitude. She pretends and pretends that she is very angry with Marìa, telling her offensive things, but she follows her everywhere! I can't tell you how typical this coward, illogical and annoying attitude is. Other one is to lie and to lie until everything falls by its own weight. Of course, all of these are generalizations. There are a lot of Colombian people who is not like that. But I am talking about what Colombian attitudes are depicted at the movie, and these really are. There are other good too, like the force to fight for what you want and to dream of progress, the cooperation and heart, the love for family, the piety, etc.

The movie is refreshing and free of gags and clichés. Well, actually it is very disturbing sometimes. But it is real. Like movies like "Ladri di biciclette", "Before Sunset" or "Lost in Translation" one can surely affirm that nothing of what happens of this movie could not have happened in real life. And there is nothing more moving than real life.

The story is great. The acting of Catalina is great. Actually, she doesn't look like acting. It's too real. Flaws? Well, the music is awful. Bogotá is not a land of salsa (besides, the only he ugliest parts of the city are shown). And the acting of particularly two other actors is bad, too. There are moments where the bad guys appear very much more compassionate than what they are in real life? But let's say that this is not a flaw.

With this movie, as with he magnificent Cidade de Deus, a quote, I think that from Tolstoi, keeps on being present and relevant: "If you want to be universal, write about your little village".

9/10

It's COCAINE!

Small film about a big business.

Poverty, desperation and bravery spiral into a mess and culminate in pregnant 17-year-old Maria sitting in a room, trying to swallow 60 plastic capsules full of narcotics to smuggle for money. When she later on needs to swallow two more, it is a scene so painful that it is almost unbearable to watch. Maria: Full of Grace (2004) is a clear-eyed and relevant portrayal of a young girl in Columbia being exploited by the drug industry - in spite of its dark material, it projects a lot of heart and spirit.

They say that reality is often more frightening than fiction - and this is true for this film; it is so realistic and down-to-earth that it becomes harrowing in almost every scene. Catalina Sandino Moreno is fantastic as the dignified, brave Maria whose high-spirited nature propels the otherwise dark film. She is a girl who speaks little, but says so much. She knows what she needs to do, and she does it like she means business.

The above is also true for Joshua Marston's Maria: Full of Grace (2004) - it does not preach about morals; there is no melodrama, politics, sugar-coating romances or effects, but an understated yet brutal depiction of a young girl's journey in learning to cope and be responsible. Extremely well-crafted and important film that does not claim to be important, and that is endlessly refreshing.

8/10

It probably sounds depressing -- three girls from a village in Colombia find themselves broke, are hired as mules to smuggle drugs into New York by swallowing little condoms full, get mixed up with unfeeling and possibly murderous receivers in America, and find themselves almost broke again, or worse.

But this is almost a documentary of what these young girls go through. You come away knowing the DETAILS of how this is all done. Of course we've heard of smuggling drugs in by swallowed condoms. It's in a famous early episode of "Law and Order." And breaking news has it that now dogs are being used -- the reporter always specifies that they are "puppies." But it's informative to see how the process actually works. The three girls we follow from Colombia to New York are not among the wretched poor. Maria, Blanca, and Luci are rather working class but their incomes are too low for them to manage a normal existence and swallowing some dope seems like an easy way to add enough to their incomes to keep their heads above water. The challenges facing them don't include starvation but less dramatic problems like having your electricity shut off.

I'll just mention one detail. I'd always thought that the organizer of the plan would dump a few teaspoons of coke into a condom, tie it off, snip off the excess, and -- voila! A container the size of a grape. But no. These guys are ergonomically sophisticated. There is a manual device that crimps off each stuffed and swollen condom at a length of about 2 inches. They're BIG bundles. The girls have to practice by eating large grapes. And the bundles are coated with oil so that they can be swallowed without activating the gag reflex. It's a pretty disgusting and humiliating experience, what with going through a customs office that knows very well you're carrying, and having to expel them while anxious dealers wait around for you. And of course, if one of the bundles suffers an untimely pop, well what happens to you is what happens to the puppies who are now being used.

But the movie isn't just educational in a narrow sense. Maria, a beautiful girl, is only 17 and pregnant. She's compliant but intelligent, and she retains her dignity. Luci gets sick and suffers the puppy treatment, leaving a bathtub of blood. Blanca, homely and plump and rather dumb, departs for Bogota. And Maria is left alone, friendless, and homeless in Queens. Now THAT is something that shouldn't happen to a dog. The scene is which she and Blanca part at Newark Airport is wordless and painful to watch.

The director handles all of this with simple restraint, wisely, because the narrative itself is strong enough to carry the movie. Maria may be strong but she's impulsive too -- that pregnancy, that decision to be a "mula". He doesn't preach at all. And there are no dazzling directorial displays. The director is a guy in charge of his talent. Maria may be full of grace but she is also full of a lot of other things -- a baby, heroin, resentment. And there is an almost unnoticeable commercial billboard behind her as she leaves Blanca, "It's What's Inside That Counts."

As Maria, Catalina Moreno seems both innocent and strong, poised as it were between the unfortunate child she's left behind and the hardened whore she is likely to become. She rarely loses composure. At first I thought it was because she simply was not a seasoned actress, but there is a scene in which she watches the ultrasound image of her fetus and she giggles a little and her face lights up with expectant happiness. It's the only time she grins in the entire movie and it makes her seem to glow joyously. And unthinkingly too. That baby is going to cost a fortune and probably won't go to Philips Andover.

It's a heartbreaking movie, really, but strangely not depressing. Some people are rotten, others are kindly, and most are just trying to get along. If it's depressing, well, so is life at the mall.

"Maria Full of Grace" tells the tale of an impoverished 17 year old Colombian who becomes pregnant and, in need of money, signs on as a drug "mule", smuggling cocaine pellets into the US in her GI tract. An exceptional film for a low budget one man band indie with a deubting artist in the leading role, this film imparts a strong sense of been-there-done-that reality as it follows Maria from Bogota to New York where her life begins to unravel. Unusually well managed without being junked up with the usual Hollywood tawdry tinsel and situational extremes, this very human drama does more pound-for-pound than most films many times its size. Kudos to auteur Marston and company and ingenue Moreno for this interesting and enjoyable drama. (B+)